Genmar Yacht president optimistic about sale

The president of the Pulaski, Wis.-based Genmar Yacht group says he’s confident the business – which produces Carver and Marquis yachts – will find a buyer and remain in Pulaski.

“It won’t be a liquidation out here; it will be a sale,” Bob Van Grunsven, president of Genmar Yacht Group, told the Green Bay Press Gazette newspaper. “We will have a new owner. There’s value here and there are groups out there that believe there is a value they’d like to obtain. Although it may be smaller business, we will be back on our feet.”

Platinum Equity, the Genmar stalking horse bidder, put in a $55 million bid for Ranger, Stratos, Champion, Wellcraft, Four Winns, Glastron and Larson. The assets also include facilities in Flippin, Ark.; Cadillac, Mich.; and Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Their bid does not include Carver, Marquis, Seaswirl, FinCraft, Hydra-Sports, Javelin and other brands, or real estate and production facilities in Little Falls, Minn.; Pulaski, Wis.; and other locations. The sale also does not include the ownership of approximately 93 percent of VEC Technology.

Genmar Holding’s founder and former chairman and CEO Irwin Jacobs is also reported to be pursuing a purchase of the company.

“I will be a bidder,” he previously told Soundings Trade Only. “In addition to whatever my bid will be, [it] will also include the Larson/Glastron factory in Little Falls and the Pulaski Marquis/Carver factory and the VEC stock in Genmar.”

An auction is set for Jan. 7.

“It’s going to be mid-January before we get the whole thing figured out,” Van Grunsven told the newspaper. “It’s been a roller coaster, but we’re getting to the end of this. In January we will be able to get our feet back on the ground and it will take some weeks to get a restart to the operation going, but I’m confident we will do that.”